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Missing millions and a gruesome murder
By Willard Roper/Tony James Features -
Timesofoman.com
January 30, 2014
Amy Bosley was the archetypal American dream
wife...attractive, kind and funny, a devoted mother, a valued
business partner to her husband, an untiring charity worker and
community stalwart in the small town of Campbell, Kentucky.
But that dream became a nightmare at dawn on a
May morning in 2005 when 38-year-old Amy rang police in floods of
tears to report that an intruder had broken into their holiday
cabin, fatally shot her husband, terrified their two young
children and was still lurking somewhere in the house Patrol cars
rushed to the remote luxury cabin deep in woodland in Campbell
County — and found a scene of appalling violence.
Bob Bosley, a 41-year-old businessman, was
lying dead on the bed in the master bedroom, his body torn by at
least seven revolver bullets. The room and the rest of the cabin,
had been ransacked - possessions and clothes strewn around the
doors and windows broken.
Indeed, surveying the wreckage, one hardened
detective muttered to a colleague: "This is overkill...No intruder
would kill the guy like this and then destroy the place."
The Bosleys' two sons, Trevor, nine, and
Morgan, six, asleep in a first-floor loft bedroom had not been
harmed although they had been woken by the commotion and told to
stay in their room by their mother.
Police searched the house and grounds, but no
intruder was found. Amy Bosley in a state of shock, was taken to
the house of friends.
"It was a very bloody scene," Detective Dave
Fickensecher said later. "You could see bullet-holes everywhere.
The once immaculate cabin was a shambles. Whatever had gone on was
extremely violent."
Sniffer dogs were brought in but failed to find
anything and helicopters searched the heavily-wooded area look
anyone resembling Amy Bosley's description of "a white guy in his
thirties, very tall and with a pointed very mean face." But no one
was found.
Not surprisingly the case was headline news for
in the town of Campbell, Bob and Amy Bosley were the nearest they
had to royalty. They owned a million-dollar roofing business, had
sports cars, horses, their own plane and a 50-ft motor-yacht. They
also planned to build a castle-like mansion on their 35-acre
estate.
It was on this land, mainly remote woods, that
the Bosleys had built their weekend retreat, a luxury cabin, which
was now the scene of the first murder in Campbell County for more
than 15 years.
About the only piece of evidence detectives had
was a transcript of the initial emergency call, made at 5am in
which Amy Bosley said: "Someone is breaking into my house. What
can I do? Help me, help me."
Then, before the dispatcher could reply, Amy
cried: "Oh my God, he's shot my husband. He's shot Bob. I think
he's still in the house." He wasn't. But that didn't mean he was
not still in the Campbell area and mounting panic gripped the
community. Locals fearing that a crazed killer was on the loose
kept their children at home from school the following days.
Said a neighbour, Bobby Wahoff: "I can't
believe what's happened. Bob was the nicest guy you could find. He
would give you the shirt off his back if he had to."
The day after the murder, police chief Keith
Hill told the media:" We believe that a white male suspect entered
the Bosley cabin through the back door which was broken.
"The strange thing is that nothing appears to
be missing and no gun or shell casings have been found. We have no
motive at this time and no explanation as to why Bob Bosley was
killed.
At the same press conference, Amy Bosley made a
tearful statement in which she said:"We have every faith in the
police department and the investigation to find this killer. We
are helping the authorities in every way we can. "Unfortunately as
of now all I can remember is that I woke up and was on the floor.
I heard shots and I saw a man leave the house."
Soon afterwards police investigations began to
reveal that the Bosley marriage had not been as idyllic as Amy
claimed it to be. Bob spent most weekends on his boat on nearby
Lake Cumberland holding parties at which most of the guests were
women.
Friends said that Bob would be on the lake for
days at a time and refuse to tell Amy who he was with and when he
would be back. But not all the Bosley's secrets concerned Bob's
extramarital affairs. A close study of the finances of the roofing
company of which Amy was financial director, showed that the
apparently booming enterprise was going bust.
Amy it seemed, was destroying the business by
embezzling nearly $2 million which should have been paid to the
IRS tax authorities. "Our case is that she was destroying his
business to get even with him for being unfaithful," prosecutor
Michelle Snodgrass was later to tell a court.
And Bob's sister Debbie Webb was to recall:
"Amy once told me that if Bob was ever unfaithful to her or left
her she would shoot him.I didn't take this seriously but it
lingered in the back of my mind."
Suddenly suspicion fell on tragic wife Amy
Bosley but she vehemently denied having anything to do with the
crime."I loved Bob, despite any problems we had," she told
detectives.
"We didn't have a perfect marriage -who does? -
but he was the father of my children and I had no reason to shoot
him." But the police didn't believe her and three days later Amy
was arrested and charged with murder. When she appeared before
Judge John Stine and a jury at Campbell County
courthouse,prosecutor Snodgrass claimed that a police search of
the cabin had found Amy's handbag hidden in the back a cupboard.
It contained a Glock handgun from her husband's collection.
But defence attorney Jim Morgan said that as no
ammunition had been found there was no evidence that the weapon
was the one used to kill Bob Bosley.
He told the jury: "There were no witnesses, no
DNA evidence and the possibility of another killer can't be ruled
out because Bob Bosley had made many enemies through his business
dealings." It was then that prosecutor Snodgrass produced her
trump cards: the two Bosley children. Interviewed by child experts
they had made statements saying that the glass in the back door
had been shattered AFTER the murder — to make it look like a
break-in.
"The first thing that woke the kids were the
gunshots," Michelle Snodgrass told the jury."They heard the glass
breaking after the gunshots. This testimony was crucial but as no
one wanted the children, now living with their grandparents, to be
forced to give evidence against their mother, the prosecution
offered a plea-bargain involving a lighter sentence to save the
youngsters from testifying.
Amy Bosley changed her plea to guilty and was
gaoled for a minimum of 17 years. But the Bosley family were not
happy and let her know their feelings. Bob's brother James told
her:"You can walk out of gaol, dig up the loot we believe you
stole from my brother's business and live the rest of your life in
luxury.
"All we hope is that every night you see the
face of my brother and the tear-stained faces of your children who
have been turned into orphans and who saw horrors that will stay
with them for the rest of their lives.
A Double Life, Missing Millions and Murder
By Joseph Diaz - ABCnews.go.com
September 4, 2007
Amy and Bob Bosley were like local royalty --
they owned a million-dollar roofing business and were active
volunteers in their community. But a phone call one spring morning
would devastate their Campbell County, Ky., domain.
"Someone is breaking into my house," Amy
frantically told a 911 dispatcher. "Oh my God, he shot my
husband!" she exclaimed.
Police rushed to the scene and discovered the
Bosleys' cabin in shambles. The back door was broken in, shattered
glass was everywhere and in the bedroom they found Bob Bosley dead
-- shot seven times. As family and friends wondered who could have
committed such a grisly murder in their small community,
especially against someone as popular as Bob, his wife, Amy, the
only eyewitness, was forced to expose the most intimate details of
their marriage to police.
Detectives questioned Amy about rumors of the
couple's allegedly open marriage. They also asked her about Lake
Cumberland -- a beautiful place to relax, drink, and do things you
might not do at home -- where Bob would spend weekends cruising
around on his boat.
Amy revealed that Bob kept secrets from her and
would disappear to Lake Cumberland for days at time. "He liked to
have a lot of women and have big parties on his boat," said county
prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass. The lake is notorious for wild
parties; when "Primetime" visited, some women were going topless
for Mardi Gras beads.
During their investigation, police uncovered
graphic photographs of Bob with other women. They were able to
confirm at least one extramarital affair but Detective Dave
Fickenscher doesn't think that was the couple's biggest issue.
"The big secret was the financial downfall of the business," he
said.
The Money Trail
For years Bob had built up his chimney sweep
and roofing business, eventually turning it into somewhat of a
local empire with Amy right beside him handing the bookkeeping.
But during the investigation into the murder, police discovered
something suspicious in Amy's car: hundreds of unmailed checks to
the IRS totaling about $1.7 million in back taxes, according to
prosecutor Jack Porter.
Weeks before the shooting, Amy met with an IRS
agent who informed her they were investigating Bob for nonpayment
of taxes. Amy went to great lengths to keep the tax problems from
her husband even going as far as to impersonate him over the
phone, according to police. "She was screwing up his business,
that was probably one of the worst things you could do to Bob,"
said Snodgrass. "Her thought was, 'He'll absolutely leave me.
There's nothing worse I could do to him than screw up this
business.'"
That notion, coupled with something Amy once
said, haunts Bob's sister Debbie Webb. "She told me if Bobby ever
left her that she would shoot him in his sleep." Debbie says she
didn't take the comment seriously but it always hovered in the
back of her mind.
Crime Scene Staged?
Throughout the investigation, police,
prosecutors, townspeople and even the Bosley family had their
suspicions about who committed the crime -- Amy Bosley, something
she vehemently denied. "I had no reason to shoot him," she told
police. But the Bosley's unusual marriage, the looming IRS
investigation, Amy's story of an intruder and her behavior
following the murder just didn't seem to add up.
"Her actions weren't appropriate. He's dead
just two hours and she's bashing him in a police interview," said
Fickenscher. Prosecutors felt her crying was forced and not at all
genuine. "Her husband had just been killed and even though she
would do the same crying out, no one saw a tear fall from her
eye," said Snodgrass.
Authorities said even the crime scene looked
staged. Around the body police found just two bullet shell
casings; the others were found in the most unusual of places, like
the bottom of the washing machine. According to Amy's lawyer, Jim
Morgan, those casings were old, probably left in Bob's jeans from
target practice. "Just like coins typically fall out of your
pocket in the washing machine, the shell casings [did too]," he
said.
Police don't buy that explanation and had their
own theory. The day of the murder, the IRS was coming to audit the
business's books, potentially exposing Amy's secret. Police say
Amy might have felt that the only way to make the tax problem go
away was to kill her husband. "The IRS was investigating Bob
Bosley and if Bob Bosley couldn't tell them otherwise, then he
could be at fault," said Fickenscher.
Ten days after Bob Bosley was shot and killed,
Amy was arrested for the murder. She insisted she was innocent,
but a week later another piece of incriminating evidence turned up
in Amy's purse -- a Glock handgun. It was the same type of gun
used to kill her husband. Even though police had no doubt they'd
found the murder weapon, authorities couldn't definitively match
it to the lead slugs that struck Bob Bosley because the slugs were
too mutilated.
The Surprising Outcome
While there was a mountain of circumstantial
evidence against Amy, prosecutors admitted they didn't have a slam
dunk. But statements Amy's children, Morgan, 9, and Trevor, 6,
gave to police following the murder would become the strongest
piece of evidence. "The first thing that woke the children up was
gunshots," said Snodgrass. "The children heard the glass breaking
after the gunshots," Snodgrass added, which would contradict Amy's
story of an intruder break-in.
Their testimony was crucial, but no one wanted
to force young children who had already lost their father to
testify against their mother. As a result, prosecutors reluctantly
offered Amy Bosley a deal -- the minimum sentence of 20 years if
she pleaded guilty -- and to everyone's surprise she took the
deal. "Amy entered a plea for one reason, and that was to save her
children from testifying," said Morgan, who maintains his client
is not guilty.
Bob's family is certain Amy did it and
speculate that the motive involved that missing money from his
company. They believe Amy was siphoning off the cash and hiding it
in the backyard of the family farm. "I think that there's money
buried, and when she makes parole, one of the first stops she
makes is to go get that," said Snodgrass.
Family Confronts Amy Bosley in Court
Fox19.com
November 3, 2006
When Amy Bosley walked into a Campbell County
courtroom Thursday afternoon, she gave a slight smile to her
family sitting in the front row. It didn't take long for that
smile to go away.
During the short hearing, Judge Fred Stine
abided by Bosley's plea agreement, and sentenced the Campbell
County woman to 20 years in prison for murdering her husband,
Bobby last May. But not before Bobby's mother, sister, and brother
got time to confront her.
Bobby's brother, James, was direct. "You have
no respect for life," he said. "You are a liar and a fake."
His sister, Debra Webb, wanted to know what
Bobby's final moments were like. "Did he yell out for you to stop?
We'll never know," she said, looking at Amy face to face.
And Bobby's mother, Audrey Bosley, read a
letter to her son. "I didn't get to see my son. I didn't get to
tell him goodbye," she said.
Amy, wearing a green and white jail jumpsuit,
mostly looked down at the ground and wiped away tears as her
in-laws spoke. Judge Stine told her the "horror" she created would
end up hurting her own children the most.
The Bosley's 7 and 10-year-old children were in
the home when Amy shot Bobby six times while he slept. She told
police a man broke in through a glass door, got into a shouting
match with Bobby, then shot him.
But prosecutors say the Bosley children told a
different story. They were upstairs and heard what happened. If
the case would have gone to trial, they would have been the key
witnesses, and prosecutors say they would have contradicted every
part of their mother's story.
"The children would've testified the breaking
of the glass happened after the gunshot, so they were critical,
critical witnesses," Campbell County Commonwealth Attorney, Jack
Porter says. "And there wasn't any way around putting them on the
stand."
But Bobby's parents, who are now taking care of
the children, didn't want that to happen. They say it was them,
not Amy, who pushed for the plea deal.
"Amy didn't care if those kids were on the
stand," James Bosley says. "She don't even care about them today.
She could care less about them kids. She's not even a mother in my
eyes."
The Bosley's say the deal was the right thing
to do, even though they wish Amy could spend the rest of her life
in prison.
20-Year Sentence Recommended For Woman Who Admitted Killing
Husband
Wave3.com
(NEWPORT, Ky.) -- Prosecutors recommended a
20-year prison sentence for a woman who admitted to fatally
shooting her husband in their northern Kentucky cabin in 2005.
Amy Bosley's guilty plea to one murder count on
Thursday came less than two weeks before she was to stand trial
for the death of Robert Bosley, 42, a roofer and chimney sweep.
Bosley, 37, will be sentenced on Nov. 2 in
Campbell County Circuit Court.
The plea agreement spared her two children,
ages 10 and 7, from testifying at her trial.
Porter said the public may never know "the
exact motive" for the killing.
"We know that there were financial matters she
was attempting to hide from her husband," he said. "As far as we
could find, that was the only thing that sort of made a little bit
of sense, I guess. But how do you make sense out of this thing
really? A divorce is pretty easy to get."
He said Amy Bosley was hiding more than $1
million in financial liabilities from her husband.
The killing took place in the couple's cabin,
where they were living during construction of their dream home on
a 35-acre farm in rural Pendleton County.
Police responded to the cabin in the early
morning of May 17, 2005, after Amy Bosley made a frantic 911 call,
screaming there was an intruder. She sounded as though she was
talking to the person and warned the burglar not to go upstairs
where the children were sleeping.
Police converged on the area with a helicopter
and police dogs. Three nearby schools were locked down.
Investigators arrived at the cabin to find Amy
Bosley distraught. Her husband's body was in the bedroom, where
he'd been shot six times with a 9 mm handgun.
Amy Bosley Pleads Guilty To Murder
Fox19.com
The murder trial of Amy Bosley has come to a
surprising end in a Campbell County courtroom.
The wife of murder victim Robert Bosley told
Judge Fred Stine that she in fact did pull the trigger that killed
her husband.
The mother of two was apparently not advised by
her attorneys to enter the plea and they did not sign off on the
deal.
Bosley's children ages seven and ten were found
competent to testify and Bosley said she didn't want to subject
her children to the stresses of having to testify against their
mother. The children were in the house reportedly asleep the night
that Bosley fired six shots at her husband.
Bosley also pleaded guilty to tampering with
evidence.
As part of the agreement, Bosley is expected to
be sentenced to 20 years for murder and five years for the
tampering charge. The sentences will be served concurrently. A
sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 2nd.
Police said Bosley killed her husband in May of
2005 in their Campbell County cabin. Bosley claimed that a man
broke into their home and killed her husband. Police said that
they never found evidence to support her claim.
A civil suit filed by the family of Robert
Bosley is expected to be cleared up next week.
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